Engine or motor



June 9, 1936- H. D. RICE., JR., ET AL 2,043,518

ENGINE 0R MOTOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April lO, 1935 ffly By l Allomey H. D. RICE, JR., ET AL ENGINE OR MOTOR .Fume 9, 1936.

Filed April 10, I 1955 Sheets-Sheet 2 /5 TA Ta-.N /1 /P Y l X0 nvenlor ,Hu/son K25/7021, JP James 151750512 Patented .lune 9, 1936 UNITED STATES ENGINE OR MOTOR Hudson Doniphan Rice, Jr., and James Madison Babb, Dallas, Tex.

Application April 10,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to an expansible piston for use with rotary and reciprocatory engines, the general object of the invention being to provide a piston composed oi two parts with means for moving one part against or toward the explosive mixture in the combustion chamber, before the charge is red, thus increasing the compression oi the charge.

The present invention is an improvement over that forming the subject matter of an application led by us on June 20, 1933, Serial No. 676,- 706, now abandoned, and also the improved piston may be used with the rotory motor disclosed in application Serial No. 610,228 filed by us on May 9, 1932` and which issued in Patent No. 1,997,119 on April 9, 1935.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and speccally pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:-

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view showing the invention in use on a rotary motor.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View showing the piston in use on a reciprocatory motor.

Figure 3 is a detail View of the cam operated rod for expanding and contracting the piston.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional View taken approximately on line 4-4 of Figure 1, certain parts being shown in elevation.

Referring to Figures 1, 3 and 4 which show the invention in use on a rotary motor, the numeral I indicates the casing of the motor which may be provided with the water jacket 2 and which contains the rotor 3 to which the pistons A are connected. The abutment is shown at B and may be of the type disclosed in said Patent No. 1,997,119 or of any other suitable type, it being understood that the abutment opens to permit the passage of the pistons and then closes to form a combustion chamber between itself and the rear end of the piston. A pipe 3 extends from a, Suitable supply of compressed explosive mixture into the cylinder C formed by the internal wall of the casing and the rotor .and enters the cylinder immediately in front of the abutment. A spark plug i is in communication with the explosion chamber formed by the abutment and the rear end of the piston by a passage 5, the plug 1935, Serial No. 15,666

being located in the usual ignition circuit. The exhaust pipe is shown at 6 and contains an inwardly closing check valve 1 and an air inlet 8 is provided for the cylinder and is located in rear of the exhaust pipe, these parts being the same as that disclosed in said Patent No. 1,997,119, wherein the piston, after passing the exhaust draws in a supply of air, which is compressed by the following piston, the compressed air being afterward mixed with the gasoline or other fuel and then'introduced into the explosion chamber, all as described in the said application. However, it is to be understood that this piston can be used with other types of rotary motors.

Figure l shows the rotor as being provided with twopistons and each piston comprises a main body portion or forward part 9 that is securely fixed tothe rim of the rotor 3 in any suitable manner, preferably by being integrally formed therewith, and a head or rear part I0 that is movable toward and away from the body or fro-nt portion 9. Both of the parts 9 and I0 are provided with piston rings II. The part 9 at its rear vend is provided with a curved tubular reduced extension I2 telescoped by the head or rear portion I0 and said reduced part I2 is provided with the rings I3. The part I0 is provided with a curved interna] pin It slidably engaged in the bore of the part I2 and adjacent its free end this part I4 is provided with a longitudinal extending slot I5 to receive the pin it provided in the body or forward part 9. Links Il and I8 are pivotally conneoted together and the link I1 is pivoted to the tongue or pin I4 at Il and the link I 8 is pivoted to the front end of the part 9 at I8'. It will thus be seen that the head or rear part I Il is free to move toward and away from the front part 9 and that the construction of this piston provides i or an extensible piston.

The rotor 3 is attached to a hollow shaft I9 through which passes a stationary shaft 20 which carries a cam 2l formed with a cam groove 22 shaped as shown in Figure 1. A rod 23 is provided for each piston and has its outer end formed with a loop 24 as shown in Figure 3 through which passes the overlapping and pivoted ends of the links I? and i9, the inner end of each rod is provided with a roller carrying projection 25 for engaging the cam groove. We prefer to provide a pair of spaced cams and provide two rollers at the inner end of each rod for engaging the grooves of these, cams, as shown in Figure 4. This Figure 4 also shows a bolt 40 passing through one end of the stationary shaft 2l) for connecting said shaft to portions of the supporting structure,

each spring encircling a part of the rod and bearing against a part of the rotor and against the shoulder formed by the loop 24.

The cam 2i is so constructed and arranged that each piston will be contracted slightly after the rear end of the piston passes the exhaust 6 and the piston will remain in this contracted condition until it passes through the abutment. Shortly after the piston has passed entirely through the abutment and the abutment has closed, the compressed explosive mixture is introduced into the space between the rear end of the piston and the abutment and then the cam causes the piston to extend so that the rearwardly moving rear part of the piston will retain the mixture under pressure and the compression will not be lost as it would if an ordinary piston was used, this loss of pressure being due to the fact that in an ordinary piston, the rear end of the piston is moving away from the abutment. Just after the piston has been fully extended, the charge is fired and the resultant gases acting against the closed abutment and the rear end of the piston will force the piston forwardly, the piston remaining extended until slightly after the rear end of the piston has passed the exhaust. Then the partsfoperated by the cam contract the piston and as the rear end of the piston has passed the exhaust port, there is no pressure on the rear end of the piston and the contraction movement can easily take place.

Figure 2 shows the improved piston A used in a reciprocatory type of engine, theY cylinder of which is shown at 3i! and the crankshaft at 3|. The connecting rod 32 is pivoted as at 33 with the main part 31% of the piston and a link 35 is pivoted to the head or movable part 36 of the piston as at 3T, the link being pivoted as at 38 to an upwardly extending projection 39 at the upper end ofthe connecting rod 32. The part 36 has sliding movement on the reduced upper portion of the part 34, as shown in Figure 2.

As it will be seen the head or part 36 of the piston is still moving upwardly while crank is 10 degrees off center and the head continues to move upwardly until the crank is 40 degrees over center. One of the many advantages of this piston when used in a reciprocatory type of motor is it takes the center out of the reciprocatory type and puts a center in the rotary type.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim as new isz- 1. In a rotary motor a rotor including a piston having a iixed part and a movable part, said movable part being movable toward and away rom the fixed part circumferentially of the rotor, an operating connection between the xed and movable parts of the piston, and means for moving said movable part of the piston toward and away from the fixed part of the piston during rotation of the rotor.

2. A two-part piston comprising a body part provided at one end with an integral sleeve, a head part slidably engaging said sleeve and provided with a pin extending through said sleeve, an articulated connection between said pin and the body part of the piston and means for straightening and breaking said connection to move the head part away from and toward the body part.

3. In a rotary motor, a casing provided with a circular cylinder, a rotor mounted in the casing, a hollow shaft journaled in the casing on which said motor is mounted for rotation therewith, a piston on the rotor operating within the cylinder and including a xed body part and a head part movable circumferentially of the rotor toward and away from the body part of the piston, means slidably connecting the body and head parts of the piston together including an articulated connection between the body and head parts, an operating rod slidably carried by the rotor and having one end in engagement with the articulated connection to project and retract the head of the piston, cam means xed to and Within said shaft for operating said rod.

'4. In an apparatus of the class described, a cylinder having a compression chamber therein, a two-part piston in the cylinder and means for moving one part, relative to the other part, towards the compression chamber as the piston is moving away from said chamber, such means moving the first mentioned part towards the last mentioned part after the piston has moved to a certain extent away from the compression chamber.

`HUDSON DONIPHAN RICE, JR.

JAMES MADISON BABB. 

